If you’re running an early-stage company, it’s likely that funds, human resources, and time are all running low. That’s why you’d be forgiven for not keeping Twitter at the top of your to-do list.
If this sounds like you, take a deep breath and read through our tips on how to scale your social media operation for your startup (without tearing your hair out).
1. Make it routine
There are a million startups out there that only post on social media four to five times per week. But, if you really want to engage with your fans and followers, you need be active every day, multiple times per day, across a variety of platforms. If that sounds daunting, ease it into your daily routine by adding it to your calendar — reminders and all.
2. Force multiply
If you’re an entrepreneur or a small startup in 2013, chances are you’re at least somewhat tuned in to technology and social media, and you have peers who are as well. Get started on Facebook and Twitter by sharing your company’s content with friends, family, and peers. Do this on a regular basis, and you’ll amplify your presence.
You should also strongly encourage employees to help amplify your company’s content. It doesn’t need to be a requirement, but there’s certainly no harm in asking for a retweet.
3. Create your own content
Unless your company pumps out interesting content on a daily basis, you’re going to need to find more things to share. Take pictures — lots of pictures — whether it’s your product, the office puppy, or a bizarre sandwich you stumbled upon at lunch; it’s a fast and easy way to generate visual content that won’t bore your followers.
4. Don’t be afraid of third-party content
Whether it’s an Economist foreign policy op-ed or a BuzzFeed nostalgia listicle, third-party content can shape your brand’s message just as well as original content. The more content you share, the more you’ll understand what your community responds to — similar to how a DJ gauges fans’ reaction to a sample.
Marketers often use the data learned from third-party sharing — clicks, shares, comments, retweets, new or lost followers, etc. — to help shape their own content creation initiatives. Remember, you’re not sharing content for you. You’re sharing it for your followers.
5. Go ahead, take shortcuts
The above four points may sound daunting when combined, but don’t stress; shortcuts are allowed. There are no rules that prevent you from sharing similar content across multiple networks on the same day, and often, that’s smarter than completely separating content between networks. Additionally, there are a variety of tools and platforms out there to enhance your social media strategy; this includes my service, Rallyverse, which lets you discover and curate content in seconds.